Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Gen V.

The Big Picture

The cast of Gen V was shocked by the unexpected ending of Season 1 and expressed their desire to escape the doorless room and exact revenge. The character of Marie is the catalyst for change for Jordan, as she is depicted as their first real love. The actors discuss the most outrageous and bloody moment on set, which involved a penis.

Gen V started off as a TV series about young adult supes at Godolkin University, a school where supes are encouraged to rise to the top, competing for top ranking and a chance to join Vought International’s elite team known as The Seven. But as dark secrets came to light, blood was splattered and betrayals hit very close to home, it became apparent that Vought didn’t really have anyone’s best interests in mind, except for their own.

Over the eight-episode first season of this spinoff of The Boys (Gen V has already been picked up for Season 2), Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair) learned that being able to psychically manipulate blood could do more than just hurt people. While it was unfortunate God U. proved not to be what she thought, she did meet and become close with gender-shifter Jordan Li (London Thor and Derek Luh), whose male and female forms each have their own abilities, only to find themselves, along with a couple of their friends, trapped in a room they don’t know how to escape.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Sinclair, Thor, and Luh talked about how shocked and full of rage their characters are about where they were left in the finale, figuring out how to play the male and female forms of Jordan with different personalities while being seamless in their performances, what makes Jordan and Marie so well-matched, what they felt was the most outrageous moment this season, the hardest lessons their characters learned, and just how determined Marie is to find her sister.

Gen V From the world of “The Boys” comes “Gen V,” which explores the first generation of superheroes to know that their super powers are from Compound V. These heroes put their physical and moral boundaries to the test competing for the school’s top ranking. Release Date September 29, 2023 Creator Evan Goldberg, Eric Kripke, Craig Rosenberg Cast Jaz Sinclair , Chance Perdomo , Maddie Phillips , Lizzie Broadway Rating TV-MA Seasons 1

Collider: I love this show, and how sick and twisted it is. When you guys found out where things would be left, at the end of this season, what was your reaction? Did you just want to know how these characters were going to get out of a doorless room? Did you want revenge on Homelander? What went through your head?

LONDON THOR: It ended different from what we expected. We filmed something a little different from how it ended up being, so it shocked us. I was shocked, and I wanted to get out of the room. My claustrophobia kicked in. And then, just pure rage towards Sam and Cate. It makes me hate Asa [Germann] as a person, a little bit.

Jaz, especially after everything Marie has gone through and everything she’s learned about all of these things not being the way she thought it would be, how is she feeling?

JAZ SINCLAIR: To be honest with you, what I’m thinking about is how, at the very beginning of the show, she’s like, “Vought is a post-racism world.” And then, at the end, they’re like, “Surprise! All the brown people are villains and all the white people are heroes.” So, she’s probably like, “What the fuck!” That’s what I’m thinking. It’s not good.

‘Gen V’s Scripts Gave London Thor and Derek Luh So Much to Work With
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London and Derek, what were you guys most worried about when it came to pulling off this character? Jordan is such an incredible character, but we’ve never seen a character like that before. Were there aspects of the character that you wanted to share? Did you want to highlight their differences? How did you approach that?

DEREK LUH: We got so lucky that the writers and the creators took such care with Jordan. It was all there in the script and in the text, and it gave us so much to work with. Our main thing was that we really wanted to show the difference of personality, from male Jordan to female Jordan, but have it still be seamless. We talked about female Jordan almost being a mask because you can put a mask on to protect yourself in different situations.

THOR: It was like looking at the dimensions of any person. We thought of it as a sword and shield thing, in terms of personality. And then, in terms of power, it switched a little bit, and female Jordan was strong and ready and was more of the sassy and confrontational one.

SINCLAIR: Which makes perfect sense. If that’s the one that your parents refused to accept, it makes sense that when you’re in that phase, you’re a little bit more rebellious.

One of the things I loved most about this season is the romance between Jordan and Marie and how we get to see these different aspects of it and Marie’s acceptance. How much do you think that changes Jordan and who Jordan is and what Jordan is willing to be, in any moment?

THOR: Marie is probably the first real love that Jordan’s felt. That’s how we talked about it, at least. We really had flirtations in our past that we created, but Marie is the overall accepting catalyst for change for Jordan.

Jaz, what do you think makes Marie different from other people who have been in Jordan’s life, in a way that’s unconditionally accepting?

SINCLAIR: I feel like that’s the way that the world is right now. We just have a different understanding of love and connection, especially the young folks.

THOR: That’s my dream come true.

SINCLAIR: You just love who you love. I think that’s pretty standard these days. But I think Marie and Jordan are very similar, so I think they’re equally matched and I think that’s part of the chemistry with them. They’re both just as committed and smart and powerful. It’s like, “Oh, shit, I’m guarded and you’re guarded, but I see you.” There’s a lot of beauty and nuance in these people who are scared, in other ways, to shed with each other.

Jaz Sinclair and London Thor Found the Practical Effects Very Memorable
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Any show set in this universe is going to be gross and gnarly. For each of you, what was the most outrageous or bloody moment that you were involved in, that you were worried about pulling off, but you think the finished product is just really cool?

SINCLAIR: Are you all thinking about the dick?

THOR: Yeah.

SINCLAIR: Okay, they’re thinking about the dick.

In all fairness, it’s hard not to.

SINCLAIR: In episode four with Rufus, that was a lot. You watch it on screen and it’s a couple seconds of close-up penis explosion, but in real life, it’s half a day of blood and reacting to it.

THOR: It’s also so practical.

SINCLAIR: It was very practical. They built a penis.

THOR: And then they inflated it.

SINCLAIR: And they had a pump.

THOR: And then they splash blood on you. I was in the back watching what I could because it was a closed set, but they built an inflatable penis.

SINCLAIR: And I got to stare at it all day.

THOR: You stared it right in the face. You stared directly down the barrel. You left with the face of fear.

SINCLAIR: I was like, “I’ve gotta go home guys. I feel weird.” So, yeah, that was a thing.

What do each of you think was the hardest thing for your character to learn this season, and do you think they actually learned from it?

LUH: I think the realization that Brink wasn’t good was very heartbreaking for Jordan. This is the only person that they thought accepted them for who they were, and it turns out that this person was just using them. I think that would be the hardest lesson to learn, or the hardest dagger in the heart.

THOR: I think learning that the idea of the ranking system and needing to be the best was a sham that was hard for us to come back from. You build your life around this thing. The only validation that Jordan had was getting to the top, and that world just shattered.

SINCLAIR: I also love the line that Marie has to Jordan where she’s like, “Sometimes people don’t have an angle. Sometimes they’re just a person.” I think that speaks directly to what [London is] talking about, and I thought that was really powerful.

Jaz Sinclair Says Marie’s Search for Her Sister Is What Drives Her
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Jaz, after everything that’s happened, has Marie changed her mind about wanting to find her sister?

SINCLAIR: No.

What is she willing to do, in order to make that happen?

SINCLAIR: I think that she would sacrifice all of these people to find her sister, period. Sorry guys. I think that’s what drives her, period. The fact that she’s the one who destroyed her family is the pulse behind everything that Marie does, and any hope at binding it back together, she would do anything to make that happen.

Do you think she’s stopped to think about the fact that when you build something up like that, there is no way that it’s going to go the way she wants it to?

SINCLAIR: Good point. I don’t think she’s thought about it. You’re right. It can’t go well. It probably can’t. We can hope.

Gen V is available to stream on Prime Video. Check out the Season 1 blooper reel:

Watch on Prime Video